Meet Lebanese-origin Alex Azar, Trump’s pick for health secretary

President Donald Trump on Monday said he is nominating former pharmaceutical executive and industry lobbyist Alex Azar to serve as US Health and Human Services secretary, saying Azar would push to lower the price of medicines.

If confirmed, Azar, who is from Lebanese origins, also would take the lead in implementing Trump's campaign promise to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, the 2010 healthcare overhaul passed under former Democratic President Barack Obama.

Azar’s grandfather immigrated from Lebanon 100 years ago..

Trump, who is in the Philippines on a diplomatic trip, announced the nomination on Twitter by saying Azar would “be a star for better healthcare and lower drug prices.”

Trump’s first health secretary, former US Representative Tom Price, resigned in September amid a public furor over his use of expensive taxpayer-funded private charter jets for government travel.

Azar worked at Eli Lilly and Co for a decade, including five years as president of its Lilly USA unit, and left the company in January, according to his LinkedIn page.

Cummings and Senator Bernie Sanders, a 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, last year called for a federal probe into whether Eli Lilly, Sanofi SA, Merck & Co Inc and Novo Nordisk A/S colluded to set prices on insulin and other diabetes drugs.

“This is a slap in the face to millions of Americans who are waiting on (the President) to take action to lower drug prices,” Cummings wrote on Twitter. He also pointed to Eli Lilly raising drug prices by double digits while Azar was an executive at the company.

Azar, though a spokesman, declined to comment.

Other Democrats were more cautious in their response to Trump’s announcement, with Senator Chuck Schumer calling for the health agency to turn over a new leaf with Azar.

Democratic Senator Patty Murray, who has been working on bipartisan healthcare legislation, tweeted, “Given Alex Azar’s professional background, there are concerns on whether he can fairly execute any significant effort to lower drug prices for patients & families.”

Republicans were supportive with Senate health committee head Lamar Alexander of Tennessee describing Azar as a qualified, experienced nominee.

Azar also drew praise from PhRMA, the largest pharmaceutical industry trade group and America’s Health Insurance Plans, the key lobbyist for the insurer industry.

Azar served several years on the board of directors of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, a drug industry lobbying group, and earlier was general counsel and deputy secretary for Health and Human Services under former Republican President George W. Bush.

Patient advocacy organization Public Citizen said Azar has made it clear he is opposed to measures “to restrain prescription companies’ profiteering and limit improper marketing” and that he favors weaker safety approval standards.

As head of HHS, Azar would have oversight responsibility for the US Food and Drug Administration, which regulates the drug industry including approving new treatments.

Azar’s nomination must be approved by the US Senate, which is controlled by Trump’s fellow Republicans.

source: Alarabiya